


Yeehaw

by Sylvalum



Series: livin' is easy [1]
Category: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Farm/Ranch, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Complaining About Potholes, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Multi, Thunderstorms, there's one mention of killing snakes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-06-10
Packaged: 2020-04-24 04:19:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19165690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sylvalum/pseuds/Sylvalum
Summary: Lora and Haze have exactly two neighbours: Old Man Addam and his wife. So when there's rumours about Somebody New in the Area, coming soon to a house nearby them! Lora reacts with glee, Haze with joy, and Mikhail with deep, deep suspicion.





	Yeehaw

**Author's Note:**

> wrote this in 3 days bc inspiration moved me. seems like what i said about never writing hazorin again was a heinous lie ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯  
> enjoy :)

Lora and Haze  _ almost _ got married years ago, bought a lovely house in the countryside, bought a couple of horses and acquired a few cats and chickens, and then they adopted a kid. The only reason they  _ didn’t _ get married back then is because Tornan marriage laws were and are bullshit, so Lora is still very impatiently waiting to invite every last one of her friends and cousins to her and Haze’s enormous gay farm wedding, while Haze waits slightly more patiently. Haze is of the opinion that they already have everything they could possibly want, and Lora would agree except she’s still furious at the Tornan lawmakers and will always be, but at least Mik enjoys the fields and muddy pond immensely.

Their house is surrounded by fields, barns and a little copse of trees. Sometimes a deer will sprint across their yard. They have only two neighbours: Old Man Addam and his lovely wife, and occasionally their incredibly polite grandson visits with an even more polite redhead in tow. 

So, when one day Lora spies a couple of construction workers climbing all over the old house further down the road, she immediately legs it to Old Man Addam’s cottage to hear if they know anything. She’s desperately hoping for new neighbours, preferably somebody younger than Old Man Addam, preferably somebody with kids Mik’s age.

Old Man Addam says, “Hmm. Well, they’re sure fixing up the house for _ somebody _ …”

His wife offers Lora tea and says, “I heard a nice young man bought it. Some city dweller.”

“Is he going to live there? Did you find out if he’s got any family?”

“No family, I’m pretty sure…” 

Lora doesn’t let her hopes be dashed. She thanks Mrs Origo for the tea and treks back home to gossip with Haze about these interesting new developments. Haze is sitting in the rocking chair and knitting when Lora arrives, and Lora is, as usual, absolutely overcome with feeling at the scene: Haze, wearing that horrible cardigan, lit by the sunlight spilling from the window, smiling softly at her. 

Lora kisses her nose, her cheeks, and then steps back to say, “We’re getting a new neighbour!”

Haze puts down her knitting. “What?”

“The old house, blue one, the one Mik thinks is haunted. Some guy’s bought it.”

“New neighbour…” Haze breathes.

“I know right!” Lora barely stops herself from rubbing her hands together evilly. “We  _ gotta _ bake him that welcome pie.”

 

* * *

 

Jin has fond childhood memories of the countryside, so when he realises his job can be done entirely from home, he decides to take a chance and try something new. He is going to buy a house outside the city.

Ahkos, who’s one of those horribly efficient real estate people, immediately takes it upon himself to direct Jin to a inexpensive but nice house in the countryside. 

Jin doesn’t stop him.

The result looks charmingly rustic, with plenty of solitude, and only needs a little renovating before he can move in. It’s a faded blue colour, has a sprawling terrace, an airy living room and two bedrooms. The kitchen is the room that needs the most work to fit Jin’s standards, but even that will only take two weeks. Akhos knows his business and Jin is a grateful friend.

He spends the next two weeks packing up his stuff, and when moving day comes Patroka brings a van and her brother to help Jin move his stuff out into the wilderness. 

 

* * *

 

The mini excavator decided to break down just as Lora was about to move a boulder, so then she had to use the tractor to move the damn thing into the barn so that she could get to work poking around in its innards with a wrench. She’s using internet tutorial videos to guide her through fixing the problem when Haze shows up and says, “Lora.  _ Lora _ , I think the New Neighbour is moving in today!”

Lora says, “ _ Now _ ?” and then she bangs her head on the still open door of the excavator when she tries to stand up.

Haze squeaks and rushes forward to gently cradle Lora in her loving arms as Lora mutters some baby friendly words, because you never know when Mik might be listening. Lora and Haze are good moms who don’t swear, ever, but especially not when their sweet young son is in the vicinity.

Once Lora has recovered they both head outside to find Mikhail, and then all three of them head to the edge of their property to discreetly lean against the fence and watch.

There’s a grey car and a big van parked outside the blue house, which looks significantly fresher than it did two weeks ago, Lora notes with some approval. Out of the van comes two men: one is short and has dark hair, the other one is tall and has a bun. Together they start carrying furniture out of the van, and Lora is seriously considering pulling up her sleeves to go over and help them, but then again… it is rather enjoyable watching the tall and sleeveless one work. 

-When Lora glances at Haze, she finds Haze already looking at her.

“The welcome pie,” Haze says. “We really  _ have _ to make it now.”

“I know right,” Lora sighs, and then they both go back to watching the tall guy carrying chairs into the house, while a disinterested Mikhail slips away to play in the pond.

 

* * *

 

Jin thanks Akhos and Patroka for their invaluable assistance once again, and then they drive off into the night, Jin following their car lights with his eyes until they disappear behind a hill in the distance. Then Jin goes inside his house, sits down in his favourite creaky leather armchair which is the only furniture in the living room at the moment, and gazes out over his many, many boxes. They’re all neatly labeled, POTS, PLATES, LINENS, and so on, but it still takes Jin twenty minutes to find the one with his toothbrush and shampoos.

After this whole day, Jin thinks the sensible thing is to get some sleep and then handle the boxes tomorrow.

If he wants to make breakfast, there really is no other choice but unpacking…

He sleeps like a log, and when he wakes in the morning he feels terribly disorientated. Then he feels terribly enthusiastic at the thought of living in his new nice house, then he feels tired again at the thought of unpacking his boxes, and then he feels a mild stab of panic as he realises he does not have any groceries. Nothing. Not even the stale things that always collect at the back of the shelf for years, just a brand new kitchen and no groceries whatsoever.

Do the people living here drive into the city every time they have to shop for groceries?

He saw some other people around yesterday, he’s sure of it. They have to shop somewhere, certainly.

-Then his doorbell rings, though it takes him a moment to realise that that’s what it is.

Jin goes around his house, desperately telling himself he isn’t actually  _ looking _ for his own door, and finally he gets to it and opens it. Outside are two women, one brunette and one with spiky red hair, both short and rather cute, and they also have a… kid. A tiny blond kid. And a wicker basket.

“Hi!” says the red haired one, grinning. She holds out a hand. “I’m Lora, and we’re your new neighbours.”

Jin gingerly shakes her hand, but Lora’s grip is rather strong. “Ah,” he says, slowly. “I’m Jin. It’s nice to meet you.”

“My name’s Haze,” says the other woman almost shyly. “And this is our kid, Mikhail.”

Mikhail hides behind Haze’s legs and looks up at Jin in deep suspicion. Jin feels like he understands and can connect to Mikhail more already.

“Can we come inside?” Lora asks. “We bought a welcome pie.”

“Alright,” Jin eventually says. He just moved; nobody can blame him if his house is a bit disorganised.

 

* * *

 

Their neighbour - Jin! - shoves a few boxes out of the way and arranges a few chairs around his kitchen counter so they can all sit down. Mik refuses to sit anywhere but in Haze’s lap though, so Lora takes the seat closest to interesting new neighbour Jin, which suits her just perfectly. She hefts the basket higher and says triumphantly, “We brought strawberry pie!”

“Ah,” Jin says. “I’m afraid I’m allergic to strawberries.”

“Oh no,” Haze says quietly, which articulates Lora’s feelings flawlessly.

“...Does this mean I can have it?” Mik asks, forgetting to be afraid of strangers when confronted by the possibility of free pie.

Then Haze gasps. “Mr Jin, do you have anything to  _ eat _ ? Didn’t you move in just yesterday?”

Oh, shoot.

“Yes,” Jin says. “And no. Do you know… anywhere I might buy groceries?”

“Sure,” Lora says, thinking quickly. “But why don’t you have breakfast at our place first? We have things without strawberries!”

Lora can almost see Jin visibly considering her offer, and she waits breathlessly.

“Well,” Jin says, after a moment. “Might as well, i suppose.”

 

* * *

 

Haze loves to take her time making breakfast. There’s something so homely and comforting in frying eggs taken straight from the coop as you watch the sun rise over the fields, and listening to the radio while whisking together pancake batter and stopping the cats from eating the bacon. Sometimes she makes hearts out of blueberries on Lora’s and Mik’s pancakes, but usually she doesn’t have the time. And today, they have a guest.

After some consideration Haze decides to just toast a lot of bread and fry some eggs, but then Jin gets up and asks if he can  _ help _ , so then she lets him make some omelettes while spying on what he does. He clearly has a much better grasp on how to make omelettes than Haze or Lora, which Haze definitely notices. Wow. She should ask him for recipes, maybe, because that smells  _ delicious _ .

When they sit down to eat, at last, Mikhail seems to have gotten used enough to Jin to eat his omelettes. Or maybe it’s just the fact that they taste heavenly, which Haze quickly informs Jin of. He says, “Oh, um. Thank you.”

Gosh, he’s flustered and adorable. Haze shares a  _ look _ with Lora.

“By the way, do you have any family or…?” Lora asks Jin, in between bites, because Lora always scarfs down her food like a starved puppy.

“No, it’s just me,” Jin says, still looking awkward. “Have you… lived here for long?”

“Oh, yes, many years!” Haze says. “We’ve just started expanding our potato field that we set the first year we lived here, along with the greenhouse that we never finished…”

Jin listens attentively, and after Haze is done Lora takes over and tells the story about the time the mini excavator tipped into the pond, and how she’s planning to expand the terrace once she’s done with all the other things she was going to build five years ago, and how she’s giving Mikhail riding lessons. “Hey, do you like horses?” Lora then asks after a very inspired rant about their stable and all the things they should really fix there as soon as they have time.

“No?” Jin says hesitantly.

“Don’t worry about it,” Haze says brightly. “I can’t ride either.”

After breakfast, Haze offers to show Jin how to find grocery stores out in the great wide countryside. Jin agrees with what looks like relief.

 

* * *

 

In bed that evening, when Haze is getting settled in with thick socks on, a nice novel and the hand-crafted quilt, Lora crawls into bed and over to Haze. “Hey, baby,” Lora says, perched right in front of Haze’s face. Haze puts down her novel, and Lora says, carefully, “Jin… is pretty handsome, right?”

“Yes,” Haze agrees with only minimal blushing, because they hold no secrets from each other and are very open like that. Looks like their definition of ‘open relationship’ is going to change rather drastically this evening though, Haze thinks mildly. Hoo boy.

“So-” Lora begins.

“He seems really sweet,” Haze says. “So um… that’s a yes from me?”

“A yes on…?” Lora says slowly, like they both don’t know what they’re talking about.

“Jin. We could try to… date him?” 

“Aw, Haze,” Lora says, and then they’re both giggling. 

From the floor, one of the cats meow irritatedly at them.

“Okay,” Lora says, collecting herself once more, golden eyes shining. “Let’s… flirt with the hot new neighbour, right.”

“Can’t be harder than dragging the mini excavator out of the pond, I’m sure,” Haze says, and Lora kisses her nose again.

“Love you, sweetheart,” Lora says, softly. Haze feels soft and sleepy and safe, too many feelings to express properly, so instead she frames Lora’s face with her hands and aims a kiss for Lora’s mouth. It’s so sweet how they both agree on most things.

 

* * *

 

Next time Lora sees Jin, it’s been a week and Lora is out riding Peanuts around the yard. They’d gotten the horses from somebody Old Man Addam knew who used to own a stable, because when they closed it down Lora bought two of the horses so that they wouldn’t be made into sausages or something. Banjo is old and grumpy. Peanuts tries to eat anything and everything, but other than that he’s a calm horse, and when Lora rides up to the fence he’s content to stand there and chow down on flowers while Lora talks to Jin.

“Hey!” she greets. “How’s it going?”

Jin jerks up from where he’d been crouching over a flowerbed. “Hello,” he says, and gets up to walk over to his side of the fence, brushing off his knees quickly. “I’m doing good, how are you?”

“Awesome, thank you!” Lora grins. “Whatcha doing with the flowerbeds? Thinking about planting something?”

Peanuts snorts and Jin takes a discreet step away from the fence. 

“Some herbs would be nice…” he says.

“Maybe I could give you some tips?” Lora suggests. Peanuts snorts again and she starts petting him.

“Maybe,” Jin allows.

“Just gotta put Peanuts back in the stable,” Lora says soothingly. Man, she should be wearing a straw hat. With another straw in her mouth.

“Alright.” Jin sounds much surer now that there won’t be a horse involved. Lora grins and salutes him lazily as she rides off toward the stable, Peanuts trotting on obediently.

 

* * *

 

Haze cleaned the cellar and found three jars of apple jam she made last year, still good to use, and decided to gift them to Jin as an apology for the strawberry pie that was not to be eaten. Oh, maybe he’d appreciate rhubarb pie! Once it’s season for them, that is. The strawberries were ones Haze had frozen in the freezer last year, but she’s done no such thing to any rhubarb, unfortunately…

She walks over to Jin’s house, taking the road, and rings his doorbell. He answers quickly - and then he sees the jam, and kind of freezes.

“Hi!” Haze says. “I brought some jam for you, apple jam. I’m sorry about the strawberry pie.”

“Oh, it’s fine, you don’t have to…”

“-also, I’m cleaning the cellar and these were taking up space, please won’t you take them off my hands?”

Jin looks at her, and they have a silent contest of wills, honour and politeness.

“Okay,” Jin finally decides. Haze smiles sweetly and hands over the jam jars.

“Apple jam works perfect in baking,” she tells him,  _ or so I’ve heard _ , and skips back along home, whistling merrily. Now she’s just gotta feed the chickens… oh, and maybe Jin would like some eggs?

 

* * *

 

Another day, and some old man comes and rings on Jin’s doorbell.

“Howdy!” he greets. His sweater is offensively yellow and for some reason he’s got a tiny ponytail on the side of his head, which is almost worse than the straw hat. “How’re you holding up? Enjoying the countryside, eh?”

“Pardon me, but have we met?”

The man’s eye twinkles alarmingly. “Oh, I’m Addam! Live in the cottage over on the hill.”   
Somebody  _ lives _ there? Is Jin’s first thought, and he does his best to immediately kill it. “Ah. I’m Jin.” He shakes hands with Addam.

“So,” Addam says curiously. “You live here by yourself? No spouse or anybody?”

“No, just me.”

“Hmm,” Addam hums. “You ever wanted to have kids?” he then asks. “If not, you should get a dog. It gets lonely sometimes, just the wind howling in the rafters...”

Jin closes his eyes for a moment. “Did you want something?”

“Hm, me? Oh, my wife told me to invite you over for tea today.”

Neighbourly interrogation number five.

“I’m busy,” Jin says apologetically. “So much work to do, all these deadlines I have to meet…”

“How unfortunate.” Addam shakes his head. “Well, then I guess I’m heading back home. Take care, son.”

“Goodbye, Addam,” Jin says, and waves as Addam ambles his way back across Jin’s front yard. 

Then he goes back inside to finish the movie he’d paused on his laptop.

 

* * *

 

Jin works on his computer a lot, and when he doesn’t he’s used to sitting indoors. Usually drinking coffee and reading something. Now he’s being slowly conned into starting up a garden: Lora keeps giving him useful tips about different sorts of herbs and how to grow them, Haze advocates for how tasty homemade jam and juice is, made from you own fruits and berries, and last week that weird old man came over again and gave him a lesson in growing carrots.

Jin is already surrounded by fields as far as the eye can see, wheat or rye or whatever it is. Jin never learned the breeds of cereal grain and now he’s too afraid to ask.

He’s only lived here for about a month, but so far he’s seen Lora driving four different kinds of vehicles, none of them a car. She doesn’t even own an actual field as far as Jin knows - she told him she’s not actually a farmer, but every city dweller she knows already thinks she is one.

She’s also very cute, freckled and buff and grinning with her hair sticking up all the time. it’s  _ such _ a big problem because Jin is such a bad person, Lora is in a loving relationship with Haze,  _ they have a kid together _ , Jin is  _ not _ supposed to think she’s cute. He’s unfortunately the actual absolute worst though, because he _ also _ thinks Haze is very pretty.

He should just move back to the city, he thinks forlornly. Then one of Haze and Lora’s cats meows at him from the terrace, begging for food, and he’s sufficiently distracted from his misery by dealing with it.

 

* * *

 

He resolves to try and avoid his neighbours for the most part from now on, but that just means that of course the next day his car breaks down. He doesn’t know where to go to get it fixed, he wouldn’t be able to get there anyway since his only car is broken, and he doesn’t know who to call. Honestly, the easiest choice seems to be to just… get over it and go and ask Lora and Haze for help. 

-Jin goes and pokes at the innards of his car by himself first, but that doesn’t go very well.

He doesn’t seem to have the right kinds of tools.

With a sigh, Jin gets up, closes the hood of his car, and miserably walks over to Haze and Lora’s.

When he rings the doorbell it’s Mikhail who opens, and after silently staring at him for a moment like he’s a god of death evaluating Jin’s soul, Mikhail lets him inside the house. “Mom!” he shouts. “The neighbour’s here!”

Haze appears from the kitchen, smiling already. Jin feels very guilty for finding it cute.

“Jin!” She puts down the towel she’d been holding. “What can I help you with?”

“My car… is broken.”

“Oh, I see,” Haze says brightly. “I’ll just get Lora, you can come along…” She disappears to dispose off the towel.

Mikhail stares at Jin suspiciously for another moment before then running off somewhere, and then Haze comes back. 

“Just follow me”, she says, putting on boots, and then they go outside the house. Haze leads him around the house, past a barn, around a big hole filled with water and plastic boats, and up to another, bigger barn. The doors of the barn hang wide open and inside is a tractor parked, from which alarming clanging noises come.

“Lora?” Haze says, and the clanging stops. Lora sticks out her head from behind the tractor.

“Darling!” she exclaims. “And our lovely neighbour, what’s up?”

“My car’s broken,” Jin says pitifully.

“Can I take a look?” Lora asks. Her hands are smudged black with some sort of liquid originating from the tractor and she’s holding a wrench; she looks very legit and capable. Jin forcefully ejects the word ‘hot’ from his brain before he needs to jail himself.

“Be my guest,” he just says. Lora can hardly break the car more than it already is, right?

 

* * *

 

Lora rolls up her sleeves, sets down the tool box with a satisfying thud, and wrenches open the hood of the car. “Hmm,” she then says. “What kinds of problems have you had?”

“Car won’t start.”

“And it’s charged? It’s got gas?”

“...Yes?”

“Alright,” Lora says determinedly, hopefully looking like the hot car mechanic she’s aspiring to look like. She needs to put on that hat next time she goes out, she just has to. “This might take a while, so you can just… go on with your day. I’ll fetch ya when I’m done.”

Jin looks doubtfully at the car. He sighs. “Alright. Thank you, I’ll go… inside and put on the tea kettle.”

“Yeah,” Lora agrees, cheerfully waving to Jin as he goes back up to his house, disappearing inside. Then Lora waits an additional twenty seconds before taking out her phone to start looking for a how-to-fix-your-car video on the internet, feeling very thankful that she’s already identified what brand and model Jin’s car is.

 

* * *

 

He’s just finished pouring out the tea, feeling very proud of the fact that he’s finally unpacked all the boxes even if his car broke, when his doorbell chimes. Of course it’s Lora, and she grins at him and announces, “I fixed your car. Though you should put more coolant in it, I’d recommend.”

“Oh,”Jin says. “That was fast.”

“Come take a look,” Lora just says, grin widening.

Jin lets the tea cool and goes outside, following Lora over to his car. When he sits down inside and turns the ignition… it starts. 

“Wow,” he says. Then he opens the door to say it again to Lora, because her talents need to be appreciated out loud.

“You’re welcome!” 

Jin gets out of the car and Lora starts collecting up her tools. She fixed his car. For free. Oh, he must… do something to show his appreciation, otherwise he’s just rude.

“Would you and your family like to… come over for dinner tonight?”

He cringes internally.

Lora shines up however and says, “Yes, please, we’d love to!”

Jin… supposes he must do some shopping then, because all he has to offer at the moment is pasta, mustard and a single old cabbage. If he’s getting guests, then really, he should try to make an  _ effort _ . He knows how to make a lot of good fish dishes, and with some properly prepared potatoes to go with, maybe a sauce… he’ll whip something up.

 

* * *

 

Haze braids Lora’s single long ponytail, puts on a nice dress and cardigan, and waits for Lora to put on her nicest flannel shirt and cleanest jeans. Then they both participate in convincing Mikhail to change into a clean shirt, feed the cats, and then they’re on their way, trekking over to Jin’s house. 

He opens the door and gently ushers them to his kitchen, but the glimpse Haze gets of the rest of the house looks very tidy. Haze approves. Mik just looks at everything with suspicion, while Lora happily takes charge of the conversation as, Haze suspects, the only extrovert among them. Jin doesn’t seem to mind.

He serves them salmon and potatoes, once again delicious. 

“You’re a great chef!” Haze tells him.

He ducks his head and looks embarrassed, which is just so sweet. “Thank you.”

Then Lora offers to mow his grass, which seems to be the exact moment Jin realises that he needs to acquire a lawnmower.

Lora shares a look with Haze,  _ eh what can ya do about city-folk _ , and then Lora recommends a store where he can buy a lawnmower, only two hours away. Jin says, “Oh, thank you,” sounding only a bit tired. Haze carefully pats his shoulder and says soothingly,

“If you mow down the grass then snakes can’t hide in it, you see.”

Mikhail agrees. “The snakes are bad,” he says solemnly.

“One of our cats got bitten last year,” Lora adds. “The Aspars usually die if you hit them with a shovel, though!”

Thinking about killing a small animal, even if it’s dangerous, always makes Haze feel rather bad. “Try not to kill them,” she therefore adds, catching Lora’s eye.

Lora looks appropriately regretful at that.

“I… won’t,” Jin promises.

Mik soon gets bored of the Adults Talking About Adult Stuff and complaining about potholes, so he goes off somewhere. So far he’s been good at staying out of trouble, so if he wants to explore Jin’s house, why not? Haze knows Mik is a very quiet and well-behaved kid, nearly always, enough that she’s almost worried - so she doesn’t think he’ll break anything. He’ll be fine on his own.

Them adults complain some more about potholes, because they’re everywhere, nobody does anything to fix them, and Haze swears their car broke down because of a pothole last year. Jin, despite only living here for a few weeks, is in firm agreement of this great injustice.

The evening slowly grows darker, and Lora starts telling jokes that are bad, just genuinely stupid puns, but Haze can’t keep herself from giggling anyway. Jin’s smiles are soft and wondrous, like sunlight after a rainstorm. His whole face gets just a bit warmer when he smiles, and Haze’s eyes keep catching on it-

Haze keeps on catching  _ Lora _ staring at his face.

Outside, night falls slowly, while inside Jin’s house Haze feels like something’s building. Just a feeling, something happening with the atmosphere. 

She catches Jin looking at Lora, then Jin looking at  _ her _ .

Haze smiles, just a bit mischievously.

 

* * *

 

Lora thinks they’re finally getting somewhere, all this flirting starting to really lead up to the point where they can sit down and have that relationship discussion, when thunder booms outside. Haze and Jin startle, and that’s when the rain starts pounding against the windows.

“Mik!” Lora exclaims. She leaps out of her chair and yells, “Mik!”

“Yes?” he yells back.

Oh, good, good, he’s inside the house.

Relieved, Lora sits back down. “It’s fine!” she yells.

Then the lights go out.

“...Do you have any candles?” Lora hears Haze ask, hoping against all the odds.

“Well…” Jin begins. “I might have a few… scented ones…”

 

* * *

 

They all end up piled on the sofa together, Mikhail sneaking in after a few minutes, sitting covered with Jin’s old quilt and watching five scented candles burning merrily on the coffee table. The air smells like christmas, vanilla, wood and something fruity. Outside, thunder booms regularly with occasional flashes of lightning.

Haze leans her head against Jin’s shoulder, sighing.

She’s very warm.

Jin feels like somebody better hit _ him _ with a shovel, because now he’s having horribly, horribly inappropriate thoughts again, like:  _ gosh she’s adorable. _

And, scandalously:  _ what if I… put my arm around her? _

-The fact that Lora is sitting right on Jin’s other side is not helping matters any.

“What do you usually do when it’s storming?” Jin asks somewhat desperately, because he can barely take this anymore. 

“Oh,” Haze says. “We cuddle. Sometimes Lora runs out to the stable to check on the horses.”

If there’s a single thing Jin wants to do less than  _ this _ , then it’s to run out into the rain to check on  _ horses _ .

“I see,” he replies mildly. 

Then Haze puts  _ her _ arm around  _ him. _

Jin slips one level further into heartbroken despair, before realising with panic what is happening. Haze… is cuddling with him.

“I have to go to the bathroom,” he manages, and quickly disentangles himself. Then he stumbles his way through the dark until he’s reasonably far away from the living room, and pulls out his phone.

Very little service, but still manageable.

He calls Akhos.

After about a minute, he picks up, beginning with a crisp and snappish, “Why are you calling. Dear Jin, I know that you know the sun set hours ago.”

“Neighbour drama,” Jin says simply.

“Oh,” Akhos says, sounding far more cheerful now. “Please do tell me more, dear friend, I am most intrigued.”

“My neighbours, Lora and Haze, came over for dinner-”

“You’re making friends?Jin, I’m ever so proud of you, my sincerest congratulations, I have to tell my sister-”

“-they’re flirting with me! Both of them!” Jin slumps miserably against a wall. “I don’t understand anything.”

“...Well,” Akhos says slowly. “Have you perhaps tried… flirting back?”

-Jin calls Malos instead.

It’s nice to be on good terms with your ex, but Jin still starts flailing when he realises that he’s calling his  _ ex _ because his two neighbours who are  _ dating each other _ are flirting with  _ him _ now.

Malos picks up faster than Akhos, though. “Hey Jin,” he greets, which is the way he always answers phone calls, no matter what he was previously doing.

Jin takes a deep breath and says, “I’m having relationship difficulties.”

“You think _ I  _ have any fucking advice on that?”

Jin stares out into the dark and says, “Malos, how many friends do you think I have?”

On the other end, Malos sighs. “...Fair enough. What’s the matter?”

 

* * *

 

“Do you think we’re being clear enough about this?” Lora asks, as soon as Jin’s fled.

Haze is the more tactful one of them; sometimes Lora gets so caught up in something that she forgets to slow down. And Lora is starting to become genuinely concerned about this situation.

“Does he realise that we like him?” Haze muses back.

“He’s got many books,” Mik says, which is practically a glowing review on all Jin’s virtues, coming from him. “He’s okay.”

Lora reaches out blindly to ruffle Mik’s hair, but he ducks away somehow. “I’m glad,” Lora tells him, probably beaming, though nobody can see it with all the lights dead. “Me and Haze like Jin, too.”

Haze insists, “But does _ he _ know this? That we’re both…?”

Well. Probably not. Lora says, “Maybe he just thinks it’d be weird to be three people together.”

Which would be really disappointing.

“Maybe we should explain ourselves,” Haze suggests. “And ask him some real questions.”

“...Maybe.”

“Adults are stupid,” Mikhail says solemnly, and then he slips away from the sofa and goes somewhere, judging by the footsteps. Lora  _ would _ ask Haze if they should go after him, but currently Haze is too busy laughing at her, so Lora just slumps more firmly into the soft warm embrace of the sofa and sighs.

“Maybe we  _ are _ a bit stupid,” Lora then admits.

Haze snorts, but pats her consolingly on the shoulder.

 

* * *

 

Malos gives him a long expletive-laden speech, which in true Malos fashion sounds both philosophic and angry, and essentially it boils down to: have you considered, Jin, that sometimes people want to date your pasty ass? Have you considered, that maybe nobody is clumsily trying to cheat in this scenario, which by the way is fucking stupid, but instead… ‘Haze’ and ‘Lora’ are  _ both _ trying to seduce you? Have you considered _ that _ , mayhaps?

Jin says, “That… makes more sense than I want it to make.”

“Yeah, right, like you don’t want it to make sense.”

“Thanks,” Jin then says. “You’re a good friend.”

“Whatever,” Malos says, practically ending the call before getting out the last syllable in his haste to get away from compliments.

Jin breathes out, and puts his phone back in his pocket.

He feels significantly calmer now, at least. Outside he can still hear thunder booming and all the lights are staying dead, but the dark doesn’t really bother him like this.

-Polyamory isn’t exactly unheard of in Torna, even though you can’t legally marry more than one (1) person. Most Tornan laws are slow to catch up to most recent Ardainian laws, but on the subject of polyamory Tornans might just be more accepting than in Mor Ardain. The many legends of Tornan culture, about humans and mythical beings called ‘Blades’ who often were in polyamorous relationships, have probably helped some with that.

Jin still feels anxious. Thank the Architect that Malos asked him out first, otherwise Jin would really have exactly zero (0) experience in this department, due to never ever dating anyone ever.

Sitting around won’t help Jin clear his head, though, so he proceeds to get up and make his way back to the living room.

On the way there, he’s stopped by Mikhail, who’s staring out at him from the shadows.

“Hello,” Jin says.

“Your house is nice.” Mikhail speaks with no inflection whatsoever.

“Oh, thank you,” Jin quickly says. 

“You have a lot of books.”

“I… do.”

“That’s good,” Mikhail says seriously.

That... appears to be the end of the discussion, except that when Jin turns to go Mikhail says, with no warning, “You should be my dad.”

Jin’s startled into a nervous little coughing fit. “Um, that’s, that’s not really… for me to decide.”

Oh, why? Jin left his social skills in the city when he moved out here, that’s slowly becoming clear to him. 

Mikhail doesn't answer.

Jin finds himself asking, slightly desperately, “Do you want some ice cream?” Kids like ice cream. Then he realises that his freezer must also be without electricity now, which is just great, truly. He adds, “The ice cream is melting, either way.”

Mik considers this for a moment. “OK.”

 

* * *

 

There’s one last, ominous rumble, and then the lights flick on again, some faster than others. The rain’s still pounding though, but at least now they can  _ see _ .

“I’m gonna go look for them,” Lora decides, and gets up from the sofa.

“I’ll go with you,” Haze says, carefully folding up Jin’s blanket and setting it aside.

They go to the kitchen, and then they have to go no further. Mikhail and Jin are both sitting at the table, eating ice cream straight out of the packages. 

“Oh no, the freezer!” Lora exclaims, understanding all at once.

“Hi Mik,” Haze says, then, “Oh no.”

“Would you mind helping?” Jin asks.

-That’s how they all end up at the table, eating about a gallon of melted ice cream. It’s quite tasty. 

Lora tries to ignore the clock, but soon it’s undeniably midnight and they’re _ still  _ at Jin’s house, the rain still pouring down mercilessly.

“Sorry,” she says to Jin.

“What for?” he asks, and that’s…

When Lora finally seriously considers this question. Haze would be ashamed. “For taking up your time tonight, but also if I’ve made you uncomfortable. And for the strawberry pie.”

“That was nothing,” Jin says hastily. “And it’s nice having you over.”

“Just be honest,” Lora says, smiling wryly.

“I… am honest.” Jin furrows his brow.

“I really enjoyed this evening, despite the thunderstorm,” Haze quickly says. “And. I’m also apologising. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”

“...You didn’t?”

They all stare at each other. Mikhail puts his head in his hands, a gesture which looks absurdly comical when a kid does it.

“Okay,” Lora decides cheerfully, right here and now, that fuck it. “There’s no suave way to ask this, because we’ve been doing idiot things all night, but… Jin, would you be interested in going on a date with us?”

“Oh,” Jin says, and lets out a sigh. “Oh.” Then he smiles bleakly, but says firmly, “ _ Yes _ .”

 

* * *

 

The next morning, when Mikhail is playing at the pond like usual which means he’s far, far away from any awkward adult PDA, Lora and Haze take Jin out on a picnic. They take a walk to the edge of Jin’s property, where a bunch of old gnarly apple trees grow at the foot of a gently sloping hill. They then climb the hill, and at the top of it Haze spreads out a big blanket on which they all sit down, Jin in the middle.

They sit there on the hill and look out over the fields.

Farmer Hugo came and sowed two weeks ago, and now the fields are all softly green. Sometimes a seagull swoops in, lands on a field, and walks around for a bit before taking off into the blue sky again. Probably looking for worms after the rain last night, Lora figures.

“It’s so quiet out here,” Jin observes.

“Yeah,” Haze agrees softly.

A bird caws in the distance.

Lora carefully puts her arm around Jin, and Jin exhales gently. He puts an arm around Haze, and Haze leans into him.

Looks like Lora’s got to redo her wedding plans once again, but at least they’ve still got plenty of time to figure things out before the Tornan lawmakers finally catch up.

 


End file.
